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Get Hooked On Barbs!
When you arrive at David and Janet’s, you are met by
a large imposing house. But once inside you realise it is very much a
home. Seeing David so well dressed on television, it seems at first a
little strange to be greeted at the door by him wearing a track suit.
But both David and Janet are easy going and you are made to feel welcome
as soon as you step inside the door. Their philosophy being, ‘to treat
people as they would wish to be treated themselves’. We are soon
drinking tea while sitting in the conservatory and it does not take long
for Algernon their cat, named after a character in Oscar Wilde’s The
Importance of Being Earnest, to make an appearance. Algy was a stray
when they took him in, but has certainly found a good home now.
David tells me he is going to take me to his
favourite auction house, Rugby Saleroom’s. So an hour and three cups of
tea later we are on our way. We travel in my car and he puts on a funny
voice, making it clear he does not like my choice of music. David is a
great mimic and I cannot help but laugh. I enquire about his
musical tastes and he says classical and Penthouse Jazz. But also admits
to liking Cher, Jimmy Somerville, Justin Heywood, Blondie, Will Young
and Queen. The last album he bought being a Bryan Ferry CD. When we
arrive I meet auctioneer Michael Seaman and it soon becomes apparent by
the banter between them that they have known each other for some time.
 While they are
engrossed in business, I take a wander round. Looking for bedroom
furniture, David finds me two lovely oak wardrobes. But I am sure I
would not get the larger of the two in my house, so regrettably decide
against them. We eventually leave with David taking a rather nice
barometer away with him. A couple of telephone calls later in the day
and it will be sold. During the drive home in the rain, David informs me
he is giving a talk that evening. He has been doing talks and auctions
for charity all his working life saying ‘I am of the opinion that you
cannot always support charities by giving money, but can by giving of
ones time and talent’. Although both David and Janet do have favourite
charities they have supported. These include Scope, NADFAS, (National
Association of Decorative and Fine Arts Societies), and The Mary Hare
School for deaf children. Once home, David and Janet combine to cook
lunch. He loves to cook and is very good too. They are having salmon,
but knowing me to be a vegetarian, I am served a very tasty
quiche, while a prowling moggy winds his way round underneath the
table.
After lunch we start the
serious business of the interview. David was born in Rugby, Warwickshire
to Harry and Edna. Harry was an electrical engineer and during the
Second World War was a Reserve Occupation Fireman, helping to fight the
fire that engulfed Coventry Cathedral when it was bombed in 1940. David
had a ‘deliriously happy’ childhood and at school found examination time
‘an exciting challenge’. History, art, English language, English
literature, geometry and nature studies were his favourite subjects,
while carpentry was the most hated. At home David is always singing or
whistling around the house, so it came as no surprise to learn that as a
child he was a chorister at St. Andrew’s church in Rugby. But
outside of the church, his taste in music was the ever popular Beatles.
Although the first record he bought was Diane by Paul Anka. Janet
by contrast was a fan of The Rolling Stones. When he was fourteen
David’s father paid for him to go on a school trip to Paris. But he had
to earn his spending money himself. So he took a job as a
butcher’s boy. This was a far cry from the interests that were to lead
to his chosen career. His first job on leaving school was at Hogg and
Smythe, a firm dealing with people’s estates. It was the
properties, their contents and the history that lay within
that was to stimulate his interest in the world of antiques. While at
Hogg and Smythe David completed a correspondence course and
qualified from The University of Southampton. He was one of the
youngest, at twenty one, to qualify by examination to the professional
body known as The
Incorporated Society of Valuers And Auctioneers. Later to be
amalgamated with the Chartered Surveyors.
David
met Janet, also from Rugby, in the late 1960’s. Both were in an amateur
dramatics society and were in a performance of East Lynn, a Victorian
melodrama. Janet, who was a teacher at an infant’s school, helped David
set up an antiques shop for his father. They both then started to travel
around the country at weekends, buying things for his father to sell in
the shop. The chosen form of transport would not though have been
a motorcycle. David’s one and only encounter as a pillion rider was a
‘terrifying experience’. He did however have a scooter in his days as a
Mod, at the time of The Beatles. But much preferring four wheels,
his first car was a Ford Popular, bought for him by his father. David
and Janet were married in Rugby on the 28th July 1973.
 David’s star sign
is Taurus, while Janet is an Aquarius. So according to the astrologers
they are totally incompatible. But having celebrated their 31st
wedding anniversary this year, I don’t think they have read the book!
You do not have to spend much time in their company to realise they are
a devoted couple. In 1974 David left Rugby to work in London. An
‘invaluable experience’ he found ‘exhilarating’. But just four years
later he was to return to Rugby and worked at an auction house in Royal
Leamington Spa, where he became manager, valuer and auctioneer. I ask if
he would have preferred to have gone into the theatre and he says that
being an auctioneer is like, ‘performing on stage’. On being asked if he
enjoyed being an auctioneer he replies
‘I wouldn’t do anything I didn’t enjoy’.
Talk
of the theatre leads us to David and Janet’s favourite shows and the
list includes Les Miserables, Chess and Forty Second Street. They also
enjoy visits to The Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford upon Avon.
As for the cinema, the films Gladiator, Master and Commander, The
Others, The Sixth Sense and The Talented Mr. Ripley are favourites.
Having read Homer’s The Iliad, the most recently seen disappointing film
for David was Troy. This is understandable, as even the critics said
it would offend students of the classics. Their most recent visit to the
cinema was to see The Village, which they both recommend. But a
particular favourite of David’s is the 1920’s Fritz Lang epic
Metropolis. An interesting choice, as when I ask if he could live in any
time when would it be, he replies, after some thought, ‘The 1920’s’. As
for anywhere in the world, he ‘Cannot think of anywhere better to
live than England’, and would like to have a permanent home on the south
coast, possibly Dorset. He and Janet’s love of this country, Janet
liking the different seasons England has to offer, is borne out by them
being members of both The National Trust and English Heritage.
We
return to the subject of antiques and I pose the question of whether he
misses being an auctioneer. ‘No because the exhilaration has been
replaced by the television work’. The decision to cease being an
auctioneer came as his contract with his employer was coming to
an end. So, does he enjoy filming Bargain Hunt and Flog It? ‘Love it to
death’ was the rather conclusive answer! He also believes that ‘David
Dickinson did a marvellous job in re-inventing
the world of antiques and making collecting available to
everyone’. Although he spends a lot of time filming at fairs and
auctions, David still visits both in his own time. The oldest antique he
owns is a Babylonian clay tablet dating from the 17th
century BC, while the last purchase he made at auction was a piece of
Moorcroft. He has also made bids on Ebay, but as yet has not
been successful. I can’t help but ask about the Bargain Hunt Christmas
Special from two years ago.  He
replies that it was ‘great fun’, but dressing up he felt like a ‘cross
between Dusty Springfield and Dame Edna Everage’. But it was a
performance well received on the BBC antiques message board at the time,
with David being described as a ‘fantastic pantomime dame’. Four years
of Bargain Hunt and two of Flog It have resulted in several good
friendships and David names in particular, Philip Serrell, James
Braxton, Michael Hogben, Kate Alcock and Charles Hanson. Despite being
one of the most popular experts on the two programmes, David finds it
‘amazing’, that anyone would be interested in a website about him. Last
year he was the most successful expert on Bargain Hunt, with sixty six
percent of his teams winning and his formidable knowledge has led to him
being called The Master. Not bad for what he calls ‘a peripheral
player’.
Since
giving up his career as an auctioneer, David has started his own
company, David J Barby FRICS and Associates, providing a nationwide
professional valuation service. Although the creation of the company
came after David left his employer, it is something he wishes he had
taken up some fifteen years earlier. I ask if he has any unfulfilled
ambitions. While David ponders on his answer, Janet says she believes he
‘has fulfilled his potential’. It’s difficult to imagine with so much
going on in his life that David finds time to relax. But he does so by
watching television, listening to music and socialising. He also finds
‘reading before bed helps to clear my mind’. Reading material for David
includes novels by Ian McEwan, Margaret Atwood and Susan Hill. Although
Janet also reads Susan Hill, her chosen authoress is Jane Austin.
Nearly at the end of
this interview I ask David what is the one thing he couldn’t live
without. Straight away he replies, ‘my wife’. I enquire of Janet the
same question. She jokingly says Algernon. But with a sharp look from
David, she promptly changes her answer to ‘David’. 
Finally, having achieved so much, would he change anything? ‘Never look
back with regrets’, is the instant reply.
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I would like to thank
David, Janet and Algernon for their time in allowing me to interview
them.
Words and pictures, Jenny Youldon. November 2004. |
